


take me to the lakes

by laserbrain



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Enchanted Forest (Once Upon a Time), F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laserbrain/pseuds/laserbrain
Summary: Just before he was due to work one early morning, the sound of footsteps on the ground floor caught his attention. Grabbing the lantern and his staff, Killian quietly descended the small staircase onto the ground floor.He nearly collided with a person.A woman."Who the hell are you?" He could barely make out the shape of her face in the dim light as she asked the question, but there was something in the tone of her voice that he recognized.
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones & Emma Swan, Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39





	take me to the lakes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! This is me shaking some dust off before I jump back into the one-shot series I got going on, so bear with me on this one. 
> 
> (You could consider this a sister of my enchanted fic if you see fit)

Killian had spent many nights in the same corner of the same dimly-lit tavern. Each identical to the one prior, starting with him sitting in a corner and ending when he emptied as many steins of beer as he could stomach. It was nothing but a desperate attempt to heal, really. 

It never worked.

It had always been him and his older brother. Their parents were nothing but ghosts of memory now. It had been Liam who was there to guide him, support him when he needed it. As kids, they shared a dream of buying a boat to sail the seas as men who made their own rules, answering to no one but themselves. As adults, they worked odd jobs to get closer to their horizon instead of watching vessels come in and out of port. When Liam died, that dream went with him.

At least when he was alive, there had been a semblance of hope that a better life was on the horizon. Now, there was nothing.

He had nothing.

Perhaps that was why he listened to the old woman that sat at his table, telling him a nearby farmer required help with his land. At first, he had asked her to leave, but the old woman persisted, insisting there would be a worthwhile conclusion if he would simply take the chance.

Wanting nothing more for her to go away, Killian politely listened to her directions. 

He never intended to follow them. 

Then, there had been something about her smile, small and lop-sided, as she left the table that prompted Killian to leap up and follow, wanting to question why she was so concerned about his life.

He stepped through the threshold only mere seconds after the woman had exited.

There wasn't a soul in sight.

Almost like she had vanished into thin air.

Settling back onto the bench in the tavern, an unknown force tugged at the back of his mind, beckoning him to go. 

That was how he ended up trudging through two days of rain to work on a bloody farm. For all he knew, the old woman could have been a lunatic, and it all could have been nothing but a waste of his time, but what did he have to lose? He already drank most of his money away.

When he arrived, the farmer, David, and his wife, Snow, welcomed him with warm smiles, invited him inside, and provided him with dry clothes. Sat at their table, Killian explained his situation, along with how he ended up on their doorstep.

He left out the part where the woman disappeared.

David and Snow exchanged a glance of some sort before explaining that their daughter usually helped when she was around, but she had recently left on a trip and wasn't set to return for quite some time.

The job was his.

He slept in the barn loft with no room in the main house, rising early every morning to complete whatever David requested. There wasn't much money in it, but they housed and fed him. Most importantly, he wasn't alone. After just a month, Snow and David were more like parents to him than his own had ever been.

Though, as kind as they were, he missed his brother desperately.

Just before he was due to work one early morning, the sound of footsteps on the ground floor caught his attention. Grabbing the lantern and his staff, Killian quietly descended the small staircase onto the ground floor.

He nearly collided with a person.

A woman.

"Who the hell are you?" He could barely make out the shape of her face in the dim light as she asked the question, but there was something in the tone of her voice that he recognized.

He could have sworn he heard it before.

Unable to place it, he shook it off.

"I live here," he answered. "Who are you?"

"You live here?" The woman asked. Killian could hear the confusion laced in her question.

"Aye. You must be lost, Miss…" Killian trailed off in hopes she would provide her name.

"Emma," she supplied hastily, "and I'm _not_ lost."

She was certainly not short on fire.

He was about to introduce himself when the barn door slid open, casting more light on Emma's face. 

He was sure he had never seen a more beautiful woman. Her blonde hair cascaded right past her shoulders in eloquent waves, framing her finely crafted features like she had been handpainted. Liam had always told him that perfection didn't exist, only close seconds, but he should strive for it anyway.

Liam was wrong.

Emma was perfect.

She was enchanting in a way he couldn't quite explain, but familiar as if he had gazed upon her hundreds of times before, thousands maybe.

Even if that were the case, she still nearly stole the breath from his lungs.

David stepped through the opening. Taking in the two figures before him, his eyes went wide, "Emma?"

"Papa," Emma breathed out through a smile, stepping forward to wrap David in a hug.

Their daughter, he should have known.

"You're back early," David's smile nearly took up his whole face.

"I thought this place might fall apart without me," Emma teased, "but I see you've found another poor soul to take care of things."

Emma turned to gesture towards him, her eyes really meeting his for the first time.

If he had been living in a haze before, he was unaware of it until that moment. The world around him seemed to brighten, even if just for a brief second.

Clarity in the purest form.

He couldn't help but wonder if _she_ was the conclusion the old bat had been referring to. His heart was screaming at him that she was. It had been quite some time since his heart had told him anything, but in an instant, she changed that.

He watched as Emma's eyebrows furrowed for a quick second before she cleared the confusion off of her face altogether.

Did she feel it, too?

"Emma, this is Killian Jones," David's grin never left his face, "Killian, this is my daughter, Emma."

"My apologies, I should have realized. I've heard much about you, after all," he managed to choke out, "Pleasure."

"Yeah, you too," Emma gave a small nod as she averted her gaze back to her father.

"Your mother is going to be thrilled, come on," David moved toward the exit before turning back, "I'm sorry, Killian, but can you handle the feedings? We've got a lot of catching up to do."

"Aye," he gave a small nod.

Emma waited for her father to be out of earshot before turning to him, "I guess we'll be seeing each other around."

"I hope so."

She shot him a shy smirk before leaving the barn.

It was enough to get him through the day.

* * *

On nights where he couldn't seem to fall asleep, he'd go outside and prop himself against the barn so he could pick out the constellations as they lit up the sky. It was an excellent way to pass the time as any, and it made him feel closer to Liam. On that particular night, though, he must have fallen asleep under those same stars.

A gentle nudge to his leg was enough to bring him back to consciousness.

"Is your bed that bad?" Emma chuckled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Most nights, no." Killian stood, dusting himself off, "What are you doing out here?"

"Follow me, I'll show you," she started towards the line of trees on the edge of the property. When she realized he wasn't behind her, she turned back, "You coming or what?"

The last thing he needed was David and Snow thinking he was sneaking off with their daughter, but he couldn't bring himself to turn her down. 

Not that he wanted to.

He followed her lead onto a path, watching as she placed her hand on certain trees, grazing markings she must have made herself. It wasn't long until the forest opened up again, revealing a small lake. 

The moonlight reflected brilliantly off the body of water; Emma looked at him with an even brighter smile, "Welcome."

"This is incredible," he gaped at the sight, "I had no idea it was here."

"Most people don't," Emma sat down closer to the shoreline, "but something was telling me that I should show you."

"What was it?" He asked as he sat beside her.

"That's the thing: I have no idea." She let out a small laugh, "We haven't met before, right?"

"I don't believe so."

"Me neither," she turned to face him, "At least, that's what my brain is telling me. My gut is telling me that we have; I just can't place the _you_ of it all."

"Perhaps, we do know each other, then," he shrugged nonchalantly, "but that only works if you believe in the possibility of past lives, alternate universes, and all of that lore."

"Do you?"

He liked to think that Liam was still out there somewhere, anywhere. That his brother was alive and well, living out the dream he never got to see in the life he was awarded this time around. So, he nodded, "Aye."

"Oh, really?" Emma quirked an eyebrow, "And in these past lives, what do you suppose we would have been?"

"I don't know about you, but I would certainly have been a pirate," Killian teased, "Best of them all."

Emma rolled her eyes, "Yeah, okay, and so was I."

Killian chuckled at her inherent cynicism, "I suppose that would have made us enemies."

Emma smiled, her eyes playful, "No, you were definitely not my enemy. Not when you have eyes like that."

"I could say the same about you, love."

She hummed, turning her head back towards the water. They sat in silence for a while, watching the small ripples of water scattered across the water's surface.

There was a certain degree of comfort in their stillness that he had never found with a person he only just met, or anyone really. He easily could have spent forever in that moment.

Emma broke it abruptly, "Why did you come to the farm?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he scoffed. Who would?

"Try me."

He heaved a sigh, "I lost my brother not too long ago. He was the last of my family."

"Killian, I'm so sorry," Emma gently placed her hand on his forearm. The fabric between them did little to dull the shock of electricity that shot up his arm.

"Thank you," he smiled softly as she took her hand away, "But that's just the half of it. One night, I was at the local tavern, and this woman came in. A complete stranger. She badgered me to come here, and for whatever reason, I listened."

Emma's eyes were blown wide open by the time he finished speaking. Her voice came out in a whisper, "That's not possible."

"I can assure you it is," Killian furrowed his eyebrows, "Are you alright? You look like you've seen some sort of apparition."

"I think I might have," Emma stood up slowly, shaking her head, "We should probably head back. You have work early tomorrow, after all."

Overcome with confusion, he nodded, "Sure, lead the way."

* * *

Emma made herself scarce after that, leaving him to worry if he had said something wrong. Scared her, even. Except he could tell that she wasn't one to be scared off, not by him, not by anyone. It had been days of awkward glances across the dinner table, Emma merely waving at him as she scurried to and from the property, never stopping to talk.

This was something else.

Whatever it was, he did his best to push it from his mind through his workdays. He had been in the field with David for nearly the entire week, turning up soil for the season. His body should have been used to work by then; still, his arms ached from his shoulders to his fingertips. By the week's end, he could hardly wait to climb the barn stairs into his cot.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he found Emma tending to her horse, startling her as she realized he was there.

"Sorry," Killian rushed out.

Emma shook her head with a small laugh, "No, no, it's okay."

He nodded politely, lingering for a moment, contemplating whether or not he should say anything. In the end, he opted for silence, moving to make his way up the stairs.

"Killian, wait!"

He turned back toward her, waiting for her to go on.

"Do you want to go to the lake?"

He was sure he'd follow her to the end of the earth if she asked. 

They followed the same path they had taken nights before, the only sound coming from the dry foliage beneath their feet. He stole glances at Emma, her features pulled like she was deep in thought. He kept quiet, not wanting to break her out of her thoughts.

Making it to the lake, they settle down exactly like they had the first time. Killian picked up stones from the ground before him, skipping a few of them across the water. He held one out to Emma. 

She took the rock from his hand with a small smile and skipped it with expertise. 

"Show off," Killian teased.

She playfully rolled her eyes, "I'd have to want to impress you to do that."

"Oh, now I'm wounded," he held a hand over his heart in jest.

She chuckled, leaning to nudge his shoulder with hers. Emma pressed her lips into a thin line, shaking her head the slightest bit before letting out a deep breath, "Did you ever see her again?" 

"Who? The woman from the tavern?"

She nodded.

"I left the next day," he shook his head. "I did try to follow her out, but she was gone. It was like she –"

"Vanished," Emma cut him off, finishing his sentence for him.

"Well, yes," Killian shook his head in disbelief, "how did you know that?"

"Because the same thing happened to me."

Killian turned towards her entirely, his eyes meeting her wide-eyed gaze, "Sorry, what do you mean the same thing happened to you?"

"I-I was in Arendelle visiting some friends. That's where I was supposed to be for the entire summer," Emma explained. "There was this huge fair in the streets; it was like an enormous party. In the middle of it all, this woman grabbed my arm. She told me someone at home needed me. I thought she was crazy, but I just knew she wasn't lying."

He swallowed the lump in his throat, "What happened then?"

Emma shook her head, "I looked away for a second just to see where my friends were going, and when I looked back, she was gone before I even got the chance to ask what she meant. I looked everywhere; I mean, I'm pretty good at finding people, and I couldn't find her."

"And so you came back?"

"Yeah," Emma shrugged. "She said someone needed me; I had to. I thought she meant one of my parents, but they were still sleeping when I got in, so I figured I'd check on the horses. That's when I ran into you and…"

He could feel the goosebumps start to form on his arms as she trailed off, leaving him to hang on her every word. "And what, Emma?"

Her eyes locked on his as the setting sun painted them both in golden hues. He could have sworn she was some sort of angel as the light reflected off her blonde waves, nearly creating a halo to match. She opened her mouth and promptly closed it before taking a moment to steel herself to speak, "I knew it was you she was talking about. The second I looked in your eyes, I knew. Then you told me what had happened to you. It was all so…"

"Clear," he offered with a small smile despite his heart racing within his chest.

She breathed out, "You terrified me."

"Is that why you've been avoiding me, then?" He asked with a small chuckle.

"I haven't been avoiding _you_ ," Emma rolled her eyes, "I've been avoiding the _idea_ of you."

Killian couldn't help but laugh, "Why's that?"

Emma looked down with a hint of a grin on her face, "I've never been good at letting people in. Then you come along, and it feels like I've known you all this time - like I was looking for you all along, and I didn't even know it. I just felt this rush of relief when I saw you. I know it sounds crazy. We've barely known each other for a week, but it's the truth, Killian."

"Considering what happened to the both of us, it is a little crazy. Scary, too, at that." Killian laughed, holding out his palms to her, "I think I would call it something else as well."

She studied him. Briefly, her eyes flickering between his face and hands before placing hers in his with a light squeeze. She tried her best to suppress a smile, "What would you call it, then?" 

He nearly forgot to answer, overwhelmed by the burning sensation of her touch. He shook his head almost imperceptibly, regaining his composure.

"Fate, love."

"Oh yeah?" She asked, her eyes coy, "What exactly did that lady tell you, anyway?"

"She simply told me there would be something worth my while here; a worthwhile ending, specifically." Killian smiled, "Wise words for motivating a broke drunk to get off his barstool."

"And do you think you found it?"

He laughed, "I know so. After I lost my brother, Emma, I didn't think I would feel a good thing ever again. I was in the deepest of pits. Suddenly, there you were, and you looked at me, and I felt something, actually felt something besides despair, for the first time in months. I've never seen so vividly in my life. It's all because of you, and our connection, as daunting as it may appear. I was meant to be here with you."

She gaped, "You think I'm that ending?"

"I'm willing to find out."

"Good," Emma whispered as she surged forward, joining their lips for the first time. If they had ever happened to run into the mystic that had guided them to each other, he'd be sure to tell her that worthwhile was an understatement compared to what he felt when he was kissing her, but perhaps, she also knew the feeling transcended words. 

Emma pulled back to rest her forehead on his, a small giggle escaped her, " _Definitely_ worth it."

"Speak for yourself, I walked through two days of rain for this," he laughed.

"Oh, cry me a river."

"Now why would I do that when I could do this instead?" Killian laughed, rushing forward to close the space between them once more.

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty, thank you! 
> 
> p.s. if any of you are still knocking around tumblr, you can find me at @curvesofsunset! I have nowhere near enough ouat mutuals!


End file.
